Whether the weather is fine ...

A listener to these podcasts who lives in Brazil has sent me an e-mail to say, please can I make a podcast about when we say“ if” and when we say“ whether”. I have thought very hard about this, because it is not easy to explain.

The trouble is that you do not think about the grammar rules for your own language. You just know what word is correct and what word is wrong.

At one time, perhaps50 years ago, there were clear rules about when we should use“ if” and when we should use“ whether”. I shall explain these rules first, because if you stick to these rules, your English will be correct. But I will also tell you that, unfortunately, we English often do not obey the rules.

Here are some sentences where we use the word“ if”.

If the sun shines tomorrow, we will go for a picnic.

If the train is late, I will miss the meeting.

If I have time, I will drink some coffee and read the newspaper.

- If I had remembered my umbrella, I would not have got so wet.

And now here are some sentences with“ whether”.

- Whether the sun shines tomorrow or not, we will have a picnic.

- Whether or not the train is late, I will still miss the meeting.

- I go for a walk every day, whether it is summer or winter.

Now do you see the difference between“ if” and“ whether”. “ If” introduces a single condition. It talks about only one possible thing that might happen– if the sun shines tomorrow, if the train is late and so on. A sentence with“ whether” talks about two or more different things that might happen– maybe the sun will shine tomorrow, maybe it will not, but we will go for a picnic whether or not the sun is shining. Very often“ whether” sentences contain the words“ or not”; or they say“ or not” indirectly, like the last example I gave you.

We also use the word“ whether” to begin a noun clause that describes a question or a problem or an issue. Let’s look at some examples, so that you can see what I mean.

- John asked me whether I could go to a party on Saturday. (“ Whether” tells us that there is a question or problem– can you come to the party? That is a question.)

- I told him that it depended on whether I finished my homework in time. (“ Whether” tells us that there is a question or a problem– will I finish my homework in time?)

- I do not know whether the train goes at3 pm or at3.15 pm.

- I need to find out whether my mother is coming at the weekend.

- Joanne asked her boss whether she could go home early.

So– here is our simple rule.

- “ If” introduces a single condition.

- “ Whether” introduces alternatives, and is often followed by“ or not”.

- And“ whether” starts noun clauses that tell us that there is a question or a problem.

The trouble is, however, that in modern English, particularly spoken English, people often say“ if” when they should say“ whether”. In particular, people often start noun clauses about questions or problems with“ if” instead of“ whether”. It is very common to hear people say for example“ He asked me if I could go to his party on Saturday”.

In some languages, like French, there is a central institute or academy which decides what the proper rules for the language are. We do not have anything like this for English. Good English is simply the English that educated and intelligent English people speak. So if people say“ if” instead of“ whether”, then“ if” is correct!

I hope this is not too confusing. I have made a little quiz so that you can practice“ if” and“ whether” – you will find a link on the website.

Finally, here is a little poem about“ whether”. You will have to listen carefully, because there are two words in English that we pronounce“ whether”. There is the word“ whether” which we have been talking about in today’s podcast, and there is the“ weather” – rain, wind, sunshine and so on. Here is the poem:

Whether the weather is fine

Or whether the weather is not

Whether the weather is cold

Or whether the weather is hot

We’ll weather the weather

Whatever the weather

Whether we like it or not.

Good bye.